Feature: Adam Sellouk [Interview + Premiere]

Hi Adam, thanks for talking to us today. How has your start to the year been so far and please tell us something interesting about your day today?

The year started off intense with a lot of new opportunities and it's going great. I made myself the best steak today I’ve ever made before.

Looking back on 2023 what gigs of yours have stood out and why?

Ame club, DMT, Ushuaia. All these clubs have a huge stage and a massive crowd and the crowd is what feeds me energy.

What’s a piece of music (not your own) from 2023 that had the biggest impact on you, and what makes it outstanding for you?

Higher State of Consciousness - Adana Twins remix, I actually found this track while I was getting a haircut through Shazam.

What was the music genre you discovered first before you turned to electronic music, and what made you continue with the latter?

Big room house. The evolution of the scene changes and it gets boring sticking with the same genre for a long time so I wanted to switch it up.

Take us through a typical day when you’re not traveling, what does a day in your life look like?

I like playing tennis, surfing, cooking crazy meals and spending a lot of time in the studio.

You’ve had a remarkable rise the past year or so, highlighted by releases on Artbat’s UPPERGROUND, Massano’s Simulate and of course Nora En Pure’s Purified, if you had to pinpoint a track which started this amazing run of success what would it be and why?

Definitely “Mirage”. It was my first track that gained a lot of traction which was released on Purified.

Israel is known for a wealth of electronic music talent. Tell us how living there has impacted the music you make, and your career path into the industry.

Living in Israel has impacted the music I make a lot. I used to play the small underground clubs here in Israel before I got famous internationally and my tracks used to be very melodic and I began making more clubby tracks for the dance floor because of the clubs I was playing…

If you were a tour-guide for nightlife in Israel, what would be the clubs you’d take the people to see and what local DJs do they need to hear?

Maze Tel Aviv. Oriss, About Time, Doriann, Eli & Dani.

You have a new collaboration ‘The Night’ produced alongside Like Mike, Braev and HEREON which has just come out on Nora En Pure’s Purified imprint, tell us about the track and how it represents your sound.

I think this track is representing more of my older sounds mixed with some of my new style. I used to do these types of melodic tracks back in the day but I incorporated this melodic sound with my new style.

You’ve stated on social media that you consider Purified your home label, tell us why Purified is such a good home for your music?

I think because Purified was the label where I first started my career. My first big track ”Mirage” was released on Purified. I’ve released a few other tracks on the label as well and I’m playing a Purified event this year.

Let our readers inside your studio for a moment, what is your current setup and what studio tools are featured heavily in your recent productions and more specifically ‘The Night’ which we hosted the premiere for.

My monitors are Kali Audio, I have a midi keyboard, the audio interface is RME babyface. I usually use Hive, Serum for synths and for mixing I usually use UAD and SSL.

Working with a larger collective of artists like you have on ‘The Night’ always yields interesting results, how would you say ‘The Night’ differs from something you would have produced in solo capacity?

When I work with other artists I get lots of different ideas and it causes me to create different stuff than usual versus when I work on my own it's all myself and there's no other people giving inspiration.

A successful collaboration is generally based around balance and compromise; how do you manage these things within your production dynamic on ‘The Night’?

It was actually a natural connection and we had great chemistry from the start. Mike was super easy to work with and we agreed on pretty much everything.

Did you guys have different roles in the production process? And if so elaborate please.

We worked on everything together.

You’ve had quite a lot of high profile gigs this past year, opening for Innellea and playing at Tomorrowland for example, so please tell us your approach to DJing, and how might your sets differ from playing a big festival to a club.

Like I mentioned before I used to play a lot of small underground clubs so I got really good at playing clubs. I think it comes down to the track selection. For smaller clubs I like to play more groovy tracks with less breaks, a lot of vocals, some tech house… and for festivals I like to play the massive tracks that have big drops and heavy bass lines and emotional kind of melodies.

Now that you’ve been on the circuit for a while, how has DJing to larger crowds influence your view of music as a producer?

It helps that you can always test your tracks and see peoples reactions and make changes to the tracks based on people's reactions.

Where do you source the majority of music for your gigs? Is it primarily from producer friends or promo mailouts at this point?

It's a mix between my own music and my friends' music and some promo sometimes. Also some music I stumble across when I'm out.

How much prep do you put into the sets you play, or are they spontaneous for the most part?

I don't really prepare much. I have a playlist with about 50 tracks that I like at the present time and I just play what I feel is good based on the crowd. I also have playlists with older tracks that I sometimes play as well.

If you could set up an event with a line-up of five artists of your choice, who would you book and what set times would you ascribe to the artists?

I would book Sideral, Glowal, Innellea, Kevin De Vries b2b Konstantin Sibold, Tale Of Us in order of appearance.

Current top five tracks in your sets?

They’re all unreleased. There is this one track I’ve been playing that is called “Louder Than A Bomb” Disfreq remix that I really like.

If you were not a DJ/Producer what do you think you’d be doing with your life? (Something not music related.)

Astronaut probably.

What’s something we do not know about you?

My mom and I are best friends.

If you are not DJing or socializing at clubs, where do we find you? And doing what?

Probably playing tennis or cooking up a fat steak.

What are some of your favorite TV series? Both all time and recently, what have you been enjoying lately?

Dark on Netflix. My all time favorite TV show is Lost.

Apart from music, what makes you happiest?

Family and friends.

What does 2024 hold for you? Anything you can share with us?

I just signed with ZMA Agency for worldwide bookings and Aurora Talent Agency for North America. Keep an eye out for some very exciting announcements.

'The Night' is available now via Purified: https://www.beatport.com/release/the-night/4397043